An Ice Age Halloween
by Laughs4life
Summary: Set ten months after the events of Continential Drift, each character has their own different plots on this Halloween-related story. It's my first fanfic so please be nice! BTW I do not own Ice Age or any of the characters except for Cash, Bobby, Flora, and Millie.
1. Making Plans

On a breezy morning, everyone in the herd was slowly waking up. Manny, Ellie, and Sid were the first ones up.

"Well it looks like it's that time of year again." said Ellie.

"That's right. Halloween." replied Sid. "I wonder what Peaches is going to be doing for Halloween this year? She's already too old for trick-or-treating."

"She's probably going to do something with her friends like all teenagers do on Halloween." answered Ellie.

Manny suddenly got worried. He knew that Peaches and Louis are now friends with the delinquents. He was not as over-protective of her as he was six months ago in their old home before he got separated from his beloved wife and daughter, he was still worried that Peaches will be badly influenced.

"I don't think so." Manny stated quickly.

"Why not?" asked Ellie.

"I still don't trust that Ethan boy and his little gang. Peaches can help us give out treats for the kids who are going trick-or-treating."

"Manny, we've been over this. She's not going to be your little girl forever. The older kids get the more trust you're going to have to start giving them."

Yeah, I guess you have a point." sighed Manny as he turned to Sid.

"What about you Sid?" he asked the sloth. "Do you want to help us out?"

"Gee I wish I could Manny," said Sid, but I'm taking some kids out for trick-or-treating.

"Really?" asked Manny in a puzzled and nervous tone."

"What's wrong with that?" asked Ellie.

"Oh nothing." retorted Manny. "Except that Sid had bad luck when it comes to kids."

"What?" asked Sid. "No I don't."

"Oh come on Sid." said Manny. "The flashbacks prove it all."

Suddenly, flashbacks from Ice Age 2, Ice Age 3, and Surviving Sid appeared and the screen goes back to the mammoths and sloth.

"On the bright side, I did make a grand canyon." said Sid to his defense. "Too bad I still didn't think of a name for it.

Diego and Shira then walked out of their cave. Manny, Sid, and Ellie knew right away that their three feuding cubs kept them up all night and the saber parents were barely got enough sleep trying to break them up.

"Good morning you love birds." chimed Sid to them in a cheery voice.

"Not to me it's not." grumbled a cranky Shira.

"Rough night?" Manny asked Diego.

"If you guys would be smart," whispered Diego. "You won't talk to Shira for let's say five minutes."

"I heard that!" snapped Shira.

"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed." Ellie said to Shira.

"Sorry guys." apologized Shira "It's just that the cubs kept us up all night and-"

Shira was cut off by her's and Diego's three cubs, Cash, Bobby, and Flora who were chasing and yelling at each other.

"I can't believe you just called me a pipsqueak!" hissed Flora pinning down Cash.

"Well believe it because it's true!" Cash spat at his sister.

"Take it back!"

"You can't take back facts squirt!"

Everyone stared at the fighting cubs expecting the saber parents to do something.

"Aren't you two going to do something?" asked Ellie.

"No." replied Shira. "We'll wait for the right person to do it."

"So what did we miss?" asked Diego.

"Not much." answered Manny. "Just talking about what we're doing today for Halloween, and Sid is taking some kids out for trick-or-treating."

"Really Sid?" said Diego in the same tone Manny used.

"What do mean?" asked Shira.

"Every time Sid does something with kids it ends badly. Watch the flashbacks if you don't believe me."

Once again the flashbacks from Ice Age 2, Ice Age 3, and Surviving Sid show up and the screen once again flashes back to the herd animals with this time Shira laughing hysterically saying that they just made her morning.

"Thank you flashbacks." said Sid sarcastically. "Well this time if the kids get out of control, I have someone to handle the discipline."

"Who?" asked Diego.

While the cubs are still fighting, a loud, cranky voice belonging to Sid's grandmother, Granny is heard.

"Will you fur balls shut up?!" Granny snapped at the cubs. "I'm still sleeping here!" The cubs then stopped fighting right away.

"Hi Granny!" Sid greeted his grandmother in a very friendly way as she was angrily mumbling.

"You're taking your grandma to make sure she disciplines the kids?" asked Diego.

"Yep!" replied Sid.

"Then you have made a good choice my friend." said Manny.

"Yeah," agreed Shira. "Especially considering that she can make the cubs stop fighting." Flora, Cash, and Bobby are then seen hiding behind their dad shaking in fear of Granny yelling at them again. That is why they were sometimes scared of her.

"Sid, chew my breakfast for me." ordered Granny as she handed her grandson plums.

"Granny, what happened to the teeth I made for you?" asked Sid.

"Precious ate them. Now chew!"

Peaches then climbed down from her tree and greeted everyone in her family except for Crash and Eddie who were still sleeping.

"Mom, Dad, Ethan asked Louis and me to meet him, Steffie and Katie at the New Falls to tell ghost stories. Can I go?"

Ellie immediately agreed. Manny on the other hand was nervous and reluctant to answer. "I don't know sweetie."

"Please?" Peaches begged her father.

Ellie then shot a glance at Manny that said the same thing she told him earlier. "She's not going to be your little girl forever."

"Alright." Manny finally replied. "You can go . I trust you."

"Yay!" said Peaches. "Thanks dad!"

As everyone was telling Peaches to have fun and to be careful, Manny then came up to her and told her, "Wish your uncle Sid good luck. He's taking care of kids today."

"Good luck Sid!" Peaches called to the sloth as she walked away to go meet with Louis.

"So Peaches, Sid and Granny have something planned." said Manny. "Anyone else doing something today?"

"Yes." said Shira "Diego and I are taking the cubs out to teach them to respect each other."

"Crash and Eddie I'm not sure yet since they're still sleeping." Said Ellie. "But you can help me prepare the treats for the kids."

"Okay you start without me." said Manny to Ellie. "I'll be right there. I'm just going to do something."

As Ellie turned around, Manny walked to Crash and Eddie still sleeping. He was planning something and he wanted them to follow.

The mammoth slapped the possums awake much to their dismay

"Hey!" exclaimed Crash.

"Is it really that hard for you to just say wake up? Asked Eddie annoyed.

"Listen you two," said Manny. "I have a proposition for you."

The possums suddenly forgot that they were annoyed at their brother-in-law for waking them up.

"A proposition?!" squealed Crash very happily.

"What is it? What is it?!" asked Eddie jumping with joy.

"Peaches is going out with her friends to tell ghost stories. I need you guys to follow her."

"You want us to spy on our niece?" asked Eddie.

Manny nodded.

"Yay! Thank you for this opportunity Manny!" squealed Crash.

"How can we ever repay you?!" asked Eddie as he and his brother each kissed one side of Manny's face.

"Well for starters," said Manny, "Don't kiss me like that again."

The possums suddenly felt awkward but in unison replied "We won't let you down!" as the climbed trees and swung on branches with their tails following the same direction Peaches was going.

Manny felt satisfied with himself. Ellie would never let him spy on their daughter but technically, HE wasn't the one spying.


	2. Granny Rules, Sid Drools

**Note: The kids from Surviving Sid will reappear so if you saw the short film, you'll recognize the names and as for the kids who weren't named, I will do it myself.**

Five kids were standing outside talking about how excited they are to go trick-or-treating. They were all wearing costumes that were either nature related or animals the opposite of themselves. Start girl Claire who was a rainbow had berry juices painted on herself to represent the colors. Cindy the aardvark girl was a meadow. Her costume was several different flowers tied together. Chuck the whiny beaver was a tree. Clevis the molehog was a shark, and Harold the glyptodon was a stegosaurus(he couldn't think of anything else. The kids were talking about their costumes and wondering who their chaperone will be.

"I wonder what people will think of our costumes?" asked Clevis.

"I don't know," replied Chuck, "But my log feels uncomfortable. I can barley walk in this thing.

"Who do you think our parents hired to chaperone us?" asked Cindy.

"I'm not sure," said Claire. "But I hope it's not some idiot like on our camping trip."

"Hello kids." said Sid as he and Granny walked up to them.

"Oh no," groaned Cindy, "Not the sloth."

"Not just that." pointed out Harold. "He's the same idiot who ruined our camping trip!"

"Great!" complained Chuck. "Thanks to his stupid scary story I still have nightmares!"

"Alrighty then," started Sid. "Those of you who don't remember me from your camping trip, I'm Sid and this is my Granny and we will be taking you kids out to get candy."

The kids cheered in a very unenthusiastic tone knowing that with Sid chaperoning them, they are guaranteed to something unexpected in a bad way.

"So to keep everything organized, I made this color-coded chart on pieces of bark to determine which house we will be going to. I made a copy for everyone."

"Boo!" yelled the kids clearly unsatisfied. Not only does that block-headed sloth have zero experience with many things, but he was also a kill joy.

"We should choose which cave or tree we want to go too!" protested Clevis. "Not some stupid color-coded chart.

"Oh come on kids," said Sid. "Isn't it better to have everything organi-"

Sid was cut off when the kids threw their copies of the color-coded charts at him and ran off thus running him over in the process.

"Single file line kids!" called out the trampled Sid. Granny then walked up to him and helped him up.

"What little angels." said Granny. "They remind me of you. Except they can have fun. Unlike you!" she then hit her grandson on the head with her cane.

Ten minutes later, everyone ran out with and were talking about what treats they got. Even Chuck got excited with all the treats he got despite also getting a rock, but he had an idea what to do with it.

"I'm so glad that we all got so much candy." said Cindy.

"I know," agreed Claire with the aardvark. "We should put it all into a big pile of it for us."

"I don't think so." said Sid

"Why not?" whined Claire.

"We need to make sure all the candy is good enough to eat, so we're throwing out any piece that is not safe. In fact pretty much about 90% of this candy is unhealthy, therefore not safe enough to eat."

Sid then took all the candy the kids had and threw them on a cliff into the ocean much to the younglings' disappointment. Protests were coming out from all of the kids.

"Are you kidding me?" groaned Cindy.

"Now all that's left is vegetables!" yelled Clevis.

"No one likes a healthy Halloween!" agreed Harold.

"This is even worse than the camping trip!" shouted Claire.

Sid, ignoring the kids' protesting tried to bring order to the group. "Now, now kids. You can thank me later."

Chuck very annoyed threw the rock he got at Sid's head thus knocking him unconscious.

"_Now I'm glad I got a rock!_" thought the beaver to himself.

Just then, Granny came in riding Precious holding a wooden wagon with a candy pile as big as a mountain.

"Hey you little sweethearts!" she called out to the kids. "Precious and I took the liberty to get you twice as much candy you had before. Dig in!"

The kids then cheered up and were thanking and praising Granny for getting them the candy.

"I really like grandma sloth!" cheered Claire.

"Yeah," agreed Clevis. "She's like the polar opposite of that imbecile."

20 minutes later, Sid regained consciousness and tried to recall everything that had happened. Last thing he remembered he threw away all the unhealthy treats which the kids were very angry about and then everything went blank. He suddenly noticed something.

"_Where did the kids go? And where did Granny go?" _Sid thought to himself. If something happened to them, it would all be on him.

Sid then heard laughing and cheering from the distance. He followed the sound of it to see where the kids were and why they were having so much fun.

But as soon as Sid got there, it was a sight he was hoping not to see. To his horror, the kids were "tee-peeing" a cave with vines and throwing eggs at it.

"_Oh no!" _thought Sid.What was he going to do? When the owner of this cave finds out, he or she will be very angry. Where was his grandmother? The reason Sid brought her along was so it would be easier to control the kids when they get out of control. His question was suddenly answered when he saw Granny joining the kids on this cruel way of having fun.

"Let me get the roof!" Granny said to the kids. "I may be old, but I still have aim!"

"Granny, what are you doing?!" Sid asked horrified.

"Having the time of my life." answered Granny.

"You were supposed to control the kids when they do something bad, not encourage them into it!"

"Yeah, and you and your friends thought that Precious was imaginary or deceased. Things change buzz kill!"

"Stop it right now you little hooligans!" yelled Sid to the kids in a serious and angry tone. "The last thing I want is for your parents to find out that you became juvenile delinquents in just one night!"

"The kids, not taking Sid seriously as usual, egged him and tied him with vines like they did on their camping trip." But this time someone spoke on his behalf. That someone was Granny."

"Alright stop it right now!" she said to them. "No one tortures and insults my grandson but me. And he was just trying to keep y'all safe. He might have took it a little too far, but it wouldn't kill you whippersnappers to at least give him a chance. So he might never know what he's doing, but he knows that he likes you angels and the least you can do is try to like him back. And in return, he'll try to be less boring"

"Aw thanks Granny." Sid replied in gratitude.

The kids touched by Granny's speech untied Sid and were all apologizing to him for their rude behavior.

"Do you want to pick the next house sir?" asked Claire.

Sid was honored. For once he felt truly respected.

"It would be my honor." replied Sid. "Follow me kids!"


	3. Where's Flora?

**Note: Chapter 3, FINALLY done. Probably my longest chapter ever. Sorry for the delay. I have been suffering a terrible case of writer's block and school. Anyways, enjoy! And people, please don't be mad at Diego and Shira if you think that they screwed something up with parenting. They are still learning! And those of you who didn't see Ice Age 4 or don't know the name, hyraxes are those cute guinea pig things who help Manny, Sid, Diego, and Granny fight the pirates**

"Okay we should be back at about sunset." Diego said to Manny and Ellie. He and Shira were taking the cubs out today to teach them to respect each other. They have been taking parenting advice from Manny and Ellie to make it easier.

"Good luck!" called Ellie to the saber group as they walked away.

A few minutes later, Diego, Shira and the cubs were all in the same spot where Diego and his herd met the hyraxes six months ago after Shira escaped from her tree prison. They figured that the best place to lecture the cubs was in an open area where they could keep an eye on them.

"Alright," began Diego sounding some what strict. "You three are all wondering why your here. Your mother and I talked, and we decided that from now on, you will treat each other with respect, which is exactly why we are standing here right now. I don't care if it takes all night. We will go through every lesson and lecture until you don't feel like killing each other. Capisce?"

All three cubs nodded their heads, a little startled with the tone their father used with them. Shira didn't exactly approve of it either.

"Dial it down drill sergeant," said Shira quietly. "We're teaching them to get along with each other, not sending them off to war."

"Hey," replied Diego to his mate. "Tough love is still love."

"Yeah about that, Dad, I'm just not sure if I can learn to respect a saber born without fangs." said Cash in an offensive tone pointing his paw at Flora.

Flora was very furious now. If anything was the biggest insult to her, it was someone making fun of her lack of fangs.

"I'm not deaf you know!" Flora hissed at her brother. "Now I'm going to make you wish you never said that!"

"Now I'm going to make you wish you never said that!" Cash mocked his sister before she lunged at him with her claws unsheathed.

"Knock it off you two!" yelled Bobby to them. He was the only cub in the trio who did not try to scar his siblings physically when he got provoked by them. If he did any fighting, it was mostly to break Cash and Flora up. However, he would sometimes get involved in the fighting whenever he would get hurt some how, like he did just now.

Diego and Shira both sighed in unison. At times like these, they would have problems deciding if parenting was a blessing or a curse.

"ENOUGH!" yelled Shira in a voice that was so loud that all the trees in the forest shook. "This is exactly what your father was just telling you about! You kids know that we love you to death, but can we please get through this sibling therapy with any of you leaving fatal wounds to each other?!"

The cubs then immediately stopped fighting and sat up straight and starting shaking because of their mother's yelling. Even though Shira finally calmed the cubs down, she felt guilty that she just yelled at them.

"Drill sergeant's not sounding so harsh now, huh?" said Diego to Shira which she responded to with an annoyed glance.

"Alright," said Shira in a much more calm voice ignoring Diego's smart Alec comment. "We both made our point that from now own, you cubs will have to be much nicer to each other, and we are going to teach you how."

"And you will listen to everything that we tell you to do." added in Diego.

"And if we don't listen to it,," asked Cash, "Then what will you exactly do to make us listen? We all know that you and mom wouldn't want to yell at us again because you guys 'love us to death' and you feel guilty later on, remember?"

Diego and Shira then stared at each other confused as to what they will do. Clearly they haven't thought everything through.

"Excuse us one moment." Diego said to the cubs as he walked away embarrassed that his own son just pointed out a mistake in their discipline plan.

As their parents were talking with each other in the back, Cash had an idea.

"Let's ditch this pathetic excuse of a lecture." he said to Bobby and Flora signaling them to follow them.

"Are you crazy?" Bobby asked his brother. "Mom and Dad said we are not supposed to wander off without their permission."

"Don't get your fur in a bunch goody-two shoes." Cash replied to Bobby.

"Bobby is right," said Flora. "I already got into enough trouble for trying to rip you apart. I don't need to get into anymore because of you wanting to play hooky."

"Quit whining, both of you." said Cash to his siblings. "May I remind you that I was born before you two and that I'm the oldest and therefore I tell you what to do and you do as I say?"

"Oh please," scoffed Flora. "First of all, you are only five and ten minutes older then us. Second of all, who died and made you pack leader?"

"You mean herd leader sis," corrected Bobby, "Because technically we live in a herd."

"Listen I'm trying to save you two from a boring day," said Cash getting more impatient by the minute. "Plus, if you don't come with me, I'll tell Granny that you two stole her teeth and framed her whale for eating them."

Bobby and Flora, terrified of Granny's never ending yelling and nagging quickly nodded their heads.

"I can take a little break," said Flora quickly with a forced smile. "How 'bout you Bobby?"

"Yeah it's good to get your mind off certain stuff." replied Bobby with the same face and tone as Flora.

"That's more like it." said Cash looking satisfied with himself. "Mom and Dad take forever with these conversations, so we will be back before they even notice we're missing."

Five minutes later, the three cubs walked deeper into the woods, awing at the beautiful sights there, excited that for the first time, they are going without their parents. Even Bobby who was always trying to obey his parents by not setting one paw wrong was mesmerized by all off it.

"I got to hand it to you Cash," said Flora, "I think it was a good idea to come here."

"If we got caught by Mom and Dad, it would actually be worth it." admitted Bobby.

"Thank you," replied Cash satisfied. Even though he was only a few minutes apart from his brother and sister, it was good to be the oldest.

The cubs walked further checking out the places where their parents took them out to explore once they were old enough to walk. They immediately recognized what looked like an old camp site with a tree that had a big hole scratched in it.

"Hey, look! It's the tree where Mom was imprisoned after she met Dad, Uncle Manny, Uncle Sid and Granny." pointed out Flora. She and her brothers recalled the stories they heard of how their parents met and how their mother was originally part of the crew that captured their father and uncles, but eventually, the two sabers fell in love with each other and their mother joined the herd.

"Yeah, that's kind of cool," said Cash, "But not as cool as this looks!" he pointed his paw to a deeper part of the of the forest that they heard of but none of them have ever been to.

"What are you implying?" Flora asked Cash suspiciously.

"I'm implying that we should go and check out this part of the forest." replied Cash.

"No way!" Bobby quickly answered.

"Come on Bob!" said Cash, "We've never been there before!"

"Exactly! Mom and Dad specifically said that if we ever explore alone, we don't go into places we've never been to!"

"Come on! Rumor has it that the ghost of Captain Gutt haunts that area."

"That's just proving my point as to why we shouldn't go there!"

"You're such a coward!" said Cash to Bobby. "We don't even know if that rumor is true or not! In fact, I dare one of you to go there, check that part of the forest out and report back to me to tell me whether or not Gutt haunts this place."

"You're crazy!" yelled Bobby. "You what Mom and Dad said about him in those stories! I wouldn't dare want to see that hairy, scary captain in his ghost form!"

"If Bobby won't do it, I'll do it!" replied Flora with a very big boost of confidence.

"Really small fry?" Cash asked his sister.

"Yeah, why not? I am quick and smart, and I know that there are no such things as ghosts, and Gutt's doesn't haunt that place because he got killed by the sirens, and there are no sirens here."

"I don't know if that's a good idea for a saber like you."

"I may not have fangs, but I still have claws for protection."

"Tiny ones."

"But they're enough to scare show anything that scares me who's boss."

"Seriously, I don't think it's a good idea."

"The other reason I'm doing this is to prove that I still have survival skills despite being a pipsquek, a squirt and the other offensive names that you called me."

Cash rolled his eyes. He wasn't trying to offend Flora. He really was worried about her getting hurt, but there was nothing he could say now to change her mind.

"Fine," sighed Cash. "You're really stubborn you know that?"

"Thanks," said Flora.

"Just be back as fast as you can!" called out Cash.

"And be very, very careful!" added in Bobby.

A few minutes after Flora walked into the woods, she was feeling confident with two things. There was no ghost, and she could take care of herself on her own. What were her brothers so worried about?

However, the further Flora went, the more dark it was getting. Still, this wasn't enough to scare the female cub. Nature would have to do better to scare her.

Suddenly, she heard snapping. _What was that?!_ Flora thought to herself. She looked beneath her paws relieved to find out that it was only a twig that she stepped on.

Flora sighed in relief and kept on walking. She gasped as she heard flapping sounds from the trees until she was relieved it was just birds.

"_Okay calm down Flora." _Flora thought to herself. _"It's just your imagination." _

Flora then suddenly heard some squeaking and moaning.

"_Okay that doesn't sound natural."_ she thought to herself again.

The moaning became louder which made Flora go from uneasy to scared.

"Who's there?" asked Flora trying to hide that her voice was trembling. What if the rumor of Gutt's spirit haunting that area was true? What if he somehow finds ways to seriously hurt trespassers who doubted his existence here. What if she was next right now?

As thunder struck, Flora stumbled backwards whimpering. She then felt that she bumped into something. As she reluctantly turned around, it was a figure who she was not hoping to see. Someone who she could recognize even from stories because he was so specifically described. Captain Gutt.

Flora gasped and screamed at the figure before everything around her went black.

…

"I think she's starting to wake up." said a female voice.

"Poor thing." said another female voice. Both of them sounding sympathetic.

"What were you three thinking running away like that? We were worried sick about you!" said another voice, this one being male and unlike the other two of them, it sounded like harsh scolding.

Flora was slowly starting to regain consciousness. Those three voices sounded familiar. She was trying to recall everything that happened.

Then it hit her. She was walking through the deeper part of the woods that she and her brothers stumbled upon, noticed a figure that appeared to be Captain Gutt. And the three voices she heard were non other then her family. The two sympathetic voices belonging to her mother and Ellie and the stern one belonging to her father, who was obviously scolding her brothers for sneaking off.

"Well look who's finally up." said Manny pointing his trunk at Flora.

"Thank goodness you're alright." sighed a relieved Diego pressing his nose to Flora's head."

"We were worried something terrible happened to you." whispered Shira doing the same as Diego.

"I'm sorry Flora." said Cash sincerely. "I really am."

"I'm fine everyone." said Flora to them rubbing herself against her parents' muzzles. Her eyes suddenly widened remembering something that she should tell her parents.

"Captain Gutt's ghost is on the loose on this island!" she quickly shouted out. "We got to be careful! He can haunt us forever!"

"Sweetie, that wasn't Gutt you ran into." said Shira trying to calm her nervous daughter. "It was just a very misshapen tree. Gutt is gone for good, don't worry."

"Well that's the last time we're telling pirate stories before bed." said Diego.

"How did you find me?" asked Flora.

"Well it was quite simple," began Diego.

...

_Cash and Bobby were still waiting for Flora. She still wasn't coming back._ _It seemed like ages for them that they were sitting in that same spot looking out for their sister to come back. They were really starting to worry now._

"_Cash, Flora never takes this long to do something." said Bobby. "What if she got lost? Or what if Gutt's ghost got her?"_

"_I'm sure she's fine." reassured Cash to his brother. In reality, he was just as worried about Flora as Bobby was._

"_But what if she's not? If something happened to her we're to blame."_

"_This is all my fault. If I hadn't dared her to go there then she wouldn't be lost."_

"_What are we going to do?" _

"_We have no choice but to go in and look for her."_

"_We can't stay here! Mom and Dad will be know that we ran away if we do!  
_

"_Well Mom and Dad will kill us when they found out that we lost Flora so it's best that they don't find out."_

"_Don't find out about what?" asked a familiar masculine voice behind them. Cash and Bobby slowly turned around to find their parents, each with an angry look on their faces._

"_Mom. Dad." said Cash with his voice trembling. "How much did you hear from us?"_

"_Every single word right after 'If something happened to her we're to blame'." replied Shira clearly disappointed. "So don't try to deny anything." _

"_You're mad at us aren't you?" asked Bobby._

"_Beyond mad." replied Diego. "But we'll talk about it later. Right now, it's important that we find Flora and you two head back home."_

"_But I'm the one that dared her into going there!" protested Cash. "I should be coming with you guys as well!"_

"_I don't think so! If we let you come with us then you will wander away from us and get lost yourself."_

"_I'll stay with you guys! I promise."_

"_We're not willing to take that chance. After all, we can't afford to lose another one of you."_

"_But Dad!"_

"_No Cash! You and Bobby go home right now! Mom and I will be back!"_

"_Your father's right Cash." said another familiar voice behind them. Cash turned around to see Manny and Ellie._

"_What are they doing here?" asked Cash half annoyed._

"_Show some respect to Uncle Manny and Aunt Ellie." said Diego. "I asked them to bring you home and they kindly agreed."_

"_Thank you Uncle Manny. Thank you Aunt Ellie." said Bobby to the mammoth actually appreciating them escorting them home._

"_Mom, Dad! Please let me come with you guys!" Cash begged once again._

"_For the last time Cash, NO!" replied Shira. "Now go with Uncle Manny and Aunt Ellie!"_

_Cash then sighed frustratingly and followed this aunt, uncle, and brother home while his parents went into the dark side._

"_Come on you two," said Manny. "Let's go."_

"_No!" protested Cash. "I can't let Mom and Dad risk their lives out there!"_

"_Risk their lives?" asked a puzzled Ellie. "What do you mean?"_

"_Captain Gutt's ghost is out there!" explained Bobby to them. "He probably already got Flora, so I can't let them get Mom and Dad as well!"_

"_Gutt's ghost?" asked Manny. "Is that what made you kids so scared?"_

_Cash and Bobby both nodded startled._

"_Sweethearts your parents are the toughest and most stubborn sabers we have ever met," said Ellie trying to reassure them. "It will take more then an urban legend to scare them." _

…

_Diego and Shira walked together at the same pace calling out their daughter's name. They then stumbled across the misshapen tree that had the form of Gutt. Both of the saber parents immediately knew that Flora wandering off had something to do with the rumor floating around ever since the herd's arrival on the island. Shira then noticed Diego lowering his head to the ground looking very guilty._

"_What's wrong?" Shira asked her mate._

"_This is all my fault." said Diego. "If I hadn't been so rough on the kids then they wouldn't run away and Flora wouldn't be lost."_

"_Don't beat yourself up for this." Shira reassured Diego. "If anyone is to blame, it's me. I'm the one who yelled at them."_

"_It was nothing compared to me talking like a drill sergeant."_

"_My yelling could have destroyed the whole world."_

"_I guess we're both sharing the blame for this."_

_Diego and Shira chuckled lightly and returned to looking for Flora._

_As the saber couple kept walking, they saw light coming out from willow leaves._

"_It looks like there's other animals there." pointed out Shira. Their hopes have gone up. If there were animals, maybe one of them will know where Flora is!_

"_Let's go for it then!" replied Diego. The sabers sprinted quickly to the light coming. As they walked through the willows, they saw animals that they knew won't be a threat to them. It was a hyrax colony. Millions of hyraxes were relaxing in peace, playing, swimming, and just having friendly chats._

"_Excuse me?" said Diego. All the hyraxes stopped what they were doing and looked at him and Shira. Not having forgotten what Diego did for them, they all ran to Diego chirping excitingly and all jumped on him to form a group hug. More and more hyraxes jumped on the male saber until he was pinned down by them._

"_Looks like they really like you." chuckled Shira._

_As soon as the hyraxes got off Diego, he started to speak.. _

"_Have you seen our daughter?" he asked. The hyraxes stared at him with clueless smiles._

"_She's this tall?" repeated Diego being more specific by raising his paw slightly above a hyrax's head. "Looks like her mother?" he added pointing to Shira. "Answers to Flora?"_

_One of the hyraxes then came up to the couple and dropped grapes in front of them, once again thinking that the sabers were asking them for food._

"_Uh, thank you." said Diego, "But we really need to find our daughter." _

_One of the hyraxes just let out a squeak. Why couldn't Sid be with them? He was able to translate everything to the hyraxes, even if it was just weird dances and sounds._

"_Did you say you're looking for your daughter?" asked a small squeaking voice from the crowd._

"_Who said that?" asked Diego _

"_I did," repeated the voice._

"_But where are you?"_

"_I'm coming out right now. It's a big crowd."_

_The voice was then revealed to belong to a small female hyrax walking towards them. Both Diego and Shira were amazed that she was able to speak normal English._

"_My name is Millie." the female introduced herself. _

"_You understand us?" asked Shira partially surprised and partially relieved._

"_Yes." replied Millie. "I serve as an interpreter for the hyraxes. Now what you said about your daughter, we found a saber cub near the old misshapen tree unconscious. We think it was the kids playing and our leader's flu that made her faint. They both sounded pretty loud and scary."_

"_Can you please take us to her?" Shira asked anxiously even thought she knew that Millie was talking about Flora since she was the only female saber cub around._

"_Of course!" replied Millie. "Just follow me!"_

_Diego and Shira followed Millie and the other hyraxes guiding them. Soon enough, they reached a small hole in a tree that Millie identified as their infirmary. Quietly, Diego and Shira tip-toed to the hole and poked their heads in. They were more then happy to find their Flora sleeping safely on a bed of flower petals without a scratch on her._

"_Thank you so much for finding Flora!" Shira replied in gratitude. How can we ever repay you?"_

"_No need." said Millie. "We're just glad her family found her."_

_Shira poked her head in the hole again, took Flora gently by the scruff of her neck, and lightly pulled her out of the tree and followed Diego back home._

…

"And that's how we found you." said Shira, finishing the flashback.

"I'm so sorry I made you two worry so much about me." said Flora feeling guilty now.

"Don't sweat it." said Diego. "It's all part of being a parent."

"However," the saber father added in, not forgetting that something like this will not go unpunished. "Now that Flora is awake, we're each going to hear from you your side of the stories and then we'll decide what to do with you. And be honest."

Cash being the oldest, gave his side of the story first. "I was bored from that respect lesson that you and Mom were giving us," he began, "So I decided to go to the woods and explore and I blackmailed Bobby and Flora to come with me. I noticed the dark side of the woods, and decided to see if the rumor about Gutt's ghost was true and I called Bobby a coward for not wanting to go, so I dared Flora to go and I let her. It was my responsibility, so I'll face the consequences." he said truthfully.

"No," cut in Flora. "I got mad at Cash for saying that I won't be able to go there and defend myself because I have tiny claws and no fangs, so I decided to prove him wrong by going in myself. I didn't realize he was just worried about my safety. Cash didn't dare me, so if anyone should be punished, it should be me." She finished her side of the story.

"No," said Bobby. "I was being such a yellow belly for not wanting to go to the dark side, but Flora decided to go in when Cash was teasing me for being a coward. But truth is, I really am a coward for not wanting to go and letting Flora go. She and Cash had nothing to do with it, it's all my fault."

Diego and Shira were amazed at their kids each taking the blame. Maybe their turning their backs on them was a good thing."

"Frankly," began Diego, "We're very impressed that each on of you is taking the rap for this. I guess you three learned to respect each other after all."

"But the three of you are still getting punished for sneaking off and scaring us to death." added in Shira, "So no exploring for two week unless you're with an adult."

"Fair enough." the cubs replied all together.

"Alright," said Manny. "Now who wants treats made by Aunt Ellie?"

Cash, Bobby, and Flora happily replied that they do and ran to Ellie to get them.

"If only we could have thought of this." said Shira to Diego satisfied that the cubs for the first time are not attacking and name-calling each other.

"Yeah." agreed Diego. "Either way, I'm just not glad that they don't want to rip each other apart." 


	4. Mission Impossumble

**Note: So sorry! Late again! Here's chapter 4. Enjoy! Oh and I completely forgot about Scrat in the past 3 chapters so I decided to give him a brief cameo or two in here, and maybe even his own chapter!**

Crash and Eddie took off, swinging tree from tree. They have gone to spy on Peaches, just as Manny had instructed them to do. The possums were excited as ever to have a spy mission. Even thought it was just a simple task, they treated it as if it was the biggest mission in the world.

"I can't believe Manny sent us to spy on Peaches!" cheered Crash as he and his brother climbed a tall tree.

"I know!" replied Eddie. "Just don't go screwing it up like you always do with other things bro."

"What?! I don't screw things ups!"

"Yeah you do!"

"Oh yeah? Name one time."

"Everyday!"

Crash angrily slapped Eddie. Eddie did the same thing. The signature slap turned into a violent slap fight that was going on repeatedly until the possums fell out of the tree until the pile of leaves.

Peaches was waiting near the mole hog family's burrow waiting for Louis. The teenaged mammoth heard the rustling. She started to suspect something, but then she just shrugged and decided it was just the wind. Louis then popped his head out of his burrow.

"Hi Peaches." said the molehog.

"Hey Louis." replied Peaches to her friend. "Ready to go?"

"Yeah. I'm just a little nervous."

"About what?"

"Well, about Ethan being a jerk to me."

"Don't worry. Ethan would never do that, and even if he would, I would yell at him like there was no tomorrow."

Crash and Eddie snickered.

"Why is she still hanging out with Wiener?" asked Eddie. "He's such a wimp and baby!"

"I know!" agreed Crash. "Just like you!"

"Yeah! Just like- hey!"

"It's true!"

"You take that back right now!"

"You can't make me!"

The possums then started slapping each other once again making leaves rustle.

"Do you hear something?" Peaches asked her friend.

"What do you mean?" asked Louis.

"It sounds like leaves rustling. I heard it earlier when I was on my way to your place."

"It's autumn. It's very common."

"Yeah true. It's probably that weird squirrel that has the acorn obsession."

"Maybe. What's with that guy? Why can't he just eat it already?"

"I know, right?"

As the mammoth and the molehog walked away, Crash and Eddie stopped fighting.

"Dude, we have got to stop fighting." said Eddie. "Peaches almost noticed us twice."

"Yeah I hear you bro. I won't be calling you any names if you won't" replied Crash with Eddie saying the same to him even though they didn't really mean it. (They never do!)

Eddie's stomach then growled. "I'm kinda hungry though. We can't spy on an empty stomach."

"Look what I found!" boasted Crash holding up an acorn. "Now all we got to do is find a sharp rock and-"

Just then, Scrat jumped out of a shrub yelling and beating up Crash and Eddie and trying to snatch the acorn from them until he had finally taken back his most prized possession and ran off.

"What. Is. WRONG. With. That. Squirrel?!" asked Eddie half horrified.

"I don't know," said Crash. "But I do know that he just ran off with our lunch."

"Aw. Well no use just sitting there and talking, let's go!"

…

Peaches and Louis finally arrived at their destination. Ethan and the other mammoths were gossiping until he turned around to face the duo.

"Peaches, Louis!" the male mammoth greeted them. "Glad you could make it!"

"Hi Louis!" said Peaches. "We're not to late are we? I hope you guys haven't started without us."

"Girl, we'd never start without the entire group!" exclaimed Steffie. Peaches appreciated that Steffie respected her now. At first she saw only saw Peaches as "the weirdo who chills with possums", but later on after the continent split and with Louis performing an act of bravery when Peaches was in the clutches of Captain Gutt, she started to treat them both much nicer.

"Okay." said Ethan. "We've got a full house, so let's get the scares started!"

Crash and Eddie were each hiding in shrubs. They both had a rectangular-shaped rock which they were talking in.

"Alpha Wolf to Buttercup." Crash whispered to Eddie.

"Why am I Buttercup?" whined Eddie clearly annoyed with his girly-sounding code name.

"Because I'm the oldest therefore I get the cool code name."

"Can I at least get a manly code name?"

"Fine you're Yak Butt."

"No way! That's gross!"

"Well you want to be girly or gross?"

"I want to choose my own code name."

"Fine."

"I'll be The Flame!"

"Okay whatever."

"One question."

"Yeah?"

"How come were using code names and acting like we're miles away when in reality we're hiding in shrubs that are next to each other?"

Eddie did indeed point out that he and his brother were only a few inches apart from each other even if they were both hiding in different places. Crash said it was because there was no way they could talk to each other through rocks so it was easier if they were just slightly separated.

"I bet that in the future, there will be this thingy invented where people can talk to each other even if they're miles away!" said Eddie.

"Don't be crazy Eddie!" said Crash annoyed. "It's like saying that someone will be walking on the moon soon!"

The possums climbed up the tallest tree they could find and circled their fingers around their eyes like binoculars.

"What are binoculars?" asked the possums in unison.

The narrator, who just pointed out that the possums just broke the forth wall...

"What's breaking the fourth wall?" they asked again.

"Just let me finish!" snapped the narrator. She then explained to them what binoculars and breaking the the fourth wall meant since the writer didn't feel like doing it.

"Cool!" said the possums in awe.

The narrator then continued on with telling the story.

…

"-And no one ever saw them again." said Ethan concluding his ghost story. Everyone just sat there yawning not showing any sign of fear. Crickets were chirping in the background. Even Louis wasn't scared and he was frightened very easily.

"Uh, no offense Ethan," began Peaches trying her best as possible not to hurt his feelings. "But your story didn't really-"

"Dude, it STUNK!" sassed Steffie, her opinion being echoed by Katie and Meghan. "That story wouldn't scare a baby!" Those were the exact words that Peaches did not want to say.

"You ladies are a fickle crowd." said Ethan. He then walked up to the males and asked them,"What did you guys think?"

The guys said the same things as the girls did. "It wasn't really that scary.", "My grandpa can tell scarier stories then that.", "Steffie's right. It stunk."

"Okay then." said a now embarrassed Ethan. "Anyone else want to tell a better ghost story? Anyone's welcome."

"I got one." volunteered Louis.

"Wiener's going to tell a scary story!" snickered Eddie.

"This should be good!" laughed Crash.

Louis then walked up to the highest rock there was so that everyone can hear him, and began.

(This portion of the story is rated T just to be safe! And BTW, if you're not exactly the biggest horror fan, then I suggest skipping the italics! If you do choose to read the italics, then you will recognize two characters!)

_The Headless Dino-Weasel_

_Deep in an underground world lived many beasts. Beasts who were taller then the tallest trees. Their teeth were probably the sharpest things on the plant. Half of those monsters were the scariest things anyone has ever set their eyes on. The other half were gentle giants. However, each of the dinosaurs , no matter what height or personality always found themselves facing the worst beast of all._

_He was tall enough to touch the sky. His teeth were sharp enough to break a rock into a million pieces. His scaly skin was the most palest color ever known to the world. His eyes were just as red as the blood that came out of his prey every time he killed it. And it's favorite food was anything with flesh._

_However, on one faithful day, The Beast met his match. It all started when he was about to hunt down his next meal. He stayed hidden in the bushes, watching as the four-legged plant eater slowly walked up to the bait. Just as The Beast popped out of the bushes, a brown furry weasel came swinging on a vine. He jumped on the monster's head and tied the vines around his mouth. The weasel then started to ride The Beast as it let out an ear-bleeding roar. _

_Just as the weasel was having his fun, The Beast ripped the vines and threw the small creature up in the air and waited for him to fall into his mouth. As cunning as the weasel was, he flipped in mid-air to avoid the razor-sharp teeth. Unfortunately for him, The Beast snapped the weasel's head off just as soon as he was about to escape. However, despite being decapitated, he still lived. The weasel then picked his head up and held it in his hand for the rest of his life. Since then, he haunted the area seeking revenge on the monster who cost him his head giving him his new name. The Headless Dino-Weasel._

_(Okay, I know it's horrible. Just to let you guys know. I rarely ever write or tell a ghost or horror story in my life, so that's why it is not as scary or spine-chilling as you thought. Back to the K rating!)_

…

All the teenaged mammoths screamed in terror. They were all whimpering to themselves and saying that they want their mommies. Peaches especially was surprised. She had no idea that Louis, one of the most sweetest animals she met, had a hidden dark side. This also partially impressed her.

"Dude!" said Ethan to Louis sounding furious. "You story is just enough to give me nightmares for years!"

"I-I-I'm s-s-sorry." stuttered Louis now feeling guilty that he ruined their night.

"Sorry?" asked Ethan now with a hint of joy. "What are you talking about? This is EXACTLY what a scary is supposed to do!"

"Really? So you guys aren't mad at me?"

"Heck no!" said Steffie. You just made the night! Your story was by far the scariest story ever!"

"T-thank you." replied Louis blushing.

"I never knew you had it in you Louis." said Peaches to her friend.

"Neither did I." said Louis.

"Alright Peach," said Ethan. "You're up."

"Alright!" chimed Peaches. Just as she was about to walk in front to tell her story, she heard screaming. Very familiar screaming. Familiar screaming that sounded an awful lot like two mischievous rodents.

"Just a minute." Peaches said to her friends. "I need to go check something out."

Peaches walked up to the source of the screaming. A bush that was shaking like crazy. As she picked up a few of the leaves, she saw her two possum uncles screaming and holding each other.

"Hold me bro!" cried Crash.

"I'm too young to get my head chewed off!" wailed Eddie.

"Uncle Crash, Uncle Eddie? What are you doing here?" asked Peaches obviously suspicious.

The possums had just noticed their niece eying them and suddenly started babbling.

"Oh-uh-well-um, we're just enjoying the evening view!" stuttered Crash.

"Yeah! It's not like your dad sent us to spy on you and we agreed because we had nothing else to do!" added in Eddie before letting out a nervous chuckle.

"What?!" asked Peaches shocked and furious at the same time. Her father looked straight into her eye and told her he trusted her! And what does she get from that? An unpleasant message that says otherwise.

"I don't believe this!" exclaimed Peaches. "I had a feeling I'm being watched and now I have the proof!"

"Uh, Peaches?" asked a voice. The teenaged female mammoth turned around to see Louis behind her. "Everyone's waiting for you. Aren't you going to tell your story?"

"Tell them I'll be right back." said a disappointed Peaches.

"Are you okay? You sound upset."

"Yeah I'm fine. I just got to go straighten something out with my dad. I'll be right back."

"Do you want me to come with you?"

"If you want to, but I don't think you're going to want to be hearing what I have to say to him."

Louis then immediately knew that it had something to do with her uncles who she was hanging upside down by their tails.

"What's up Wiener?" asked Crash feeling awkward.

"I'll come with you." Louis replied. "That's what friends are for."

"Thanks Louis. You're the best friend any mammoth could ever ask for." said Peaches.

The duo then bid the mammoths good bye and set off home. Peaches then told Louis about Crash and Eddie spying on them. Louis, being the good friend he is listened, understood and told her that her dad didn't mean anything bad, he was just worried.

"I know that." sighed Peaches. I just wish he would show that he trusts me by not sending my uncles to spy on him.

Meanwhile Crash and Eddie were being held upside down by their niece's trunk. They then started blaming each other for being exposed.

"Way to go screw-up!" shouted Crash at Eddie.

"Me?!" shouted Eddie back. "You were involved in it as much as I was!"

"Well at least I didn't get scared of a ghost story!"

"Oh please! I'm not the one who screamed like a girl!"

"At least I didn't wet myself!"

"Shut up!"

"No, you shut up!"

"I hate you!"

"I hate you more!"

Peaches sighed. Part of her was thinking to hurl the bickering rodents off a cliff, but that would just be to cruel. Plus if Manny denies spying on her, she won't have proof if she does fling them. Her uncles and her dad are going to have a lot of explaining to do.

**Okay so I am done! What will Peaches say to Manny? How would Manny react to her finding out? Will Crash and Eddie shut up on the way home? Will I ever stop asking these questions? Keep looking out for updates!**

**BTW, I'd like to thank my friend Joyce for giving me the Buck and Rudy/ Headless horseman idea for the horror story! And Granny from Ice Age 4 calling Sid a "screw-up" for an obvious reason.**


	5. Confronting and Family

**The moment we've all been waiting for! What will happen with Peaches and Manny? Read to find out!**

"Happy Halloween!" called Ellie out to the kids who just got candy from her.

"Be safe!" added in Manny as the kids left.

"Still protective as ever, eh?" Ellie jokingly asked Manny.

"That's a trait a mammoth can never leave." replied Manny, returning the favor in Ellie's joke.

They laughed for a moment and Ellie spoke again.

"Have you seen Crash and Eddie?" she asked. "I haven't seen them all day."

Manny knew exactly where they were, but he just shrugged and said, "I don't know, but being the troublemakers they are, they're probably pulling pranks on some poor sap."

"Speaking of poor saps," said Diego, "I wonder how Sid is doing with the kids?"

"Well he's not running back screaming and crying so that's a good sign." said Manny.

"Not that he would do that." said Shira. "He does have some back-up with him."

"Granny may be a cranky old bat, but at least she could-"

Diego was interrupted by a small bundle of gray fur who leaped at him and pushed him to the ground.

"Gotcha Daddy!" meowed Flora playfully as she sat on her father's chest.

"You sure did," chuckled Diego with amusement in his eyes.

"I told you Flora was strong enough to tackle Dad!" boasted Bobby. "Pay up!"

Cash sighed and pushed his slice of meat to Bobby.

Diego gently pushed Flora off his chest. "Anyone else have the guts to take on their old man?" the saber asked his kids playfully. "Come on, I dare you!"

Cash and Bobby ran up to Diego and did the same thing as their sister and pounced on their dad, pinning him to the ground. Everyone laughed when Shira jokingly said to her kids, "Maybe you guys should lead the herd. You're even stronger then Daddy."

"Ha, ha, ha, you're a comical genius." Diego said sarcastically to Shira.

"Softie!" Crash randomly called out to Diego, remembering his mom's nickname for his dad.

"What did you call me?" asked Diego with amusement.

"Soft saber, soft saber!" sang Bobby.

"Okay that's enough." said Shira firmly. "No one calls Daddy that but me."

That didn't stop Flora when she blurted out, "Most softest soft saber in the softest softie world!"

"Oh, now I draw the line!" said Diego playfully. "Come here you little furballs!"

The cubs ran around laughing while their dad chased them playfully. The trio then pounced on Diego and they all laughed like there was no tomorrow.

"Okay, no more sugar for tonight." chuckled Shira before joining the party.

Manny and Ellie laughed at the sight. They remember Diego fretting over not making a good father, and now he is quite the family man.

"I wonder how Peaches is doing?" asked Manny.

"Dad!" the mammoth couple heard their teenage daughter walk in with her raised voice.

"Oh hi sweetie," said Manny causally. "How was your night?"

"Oh it would be a lot better if _someone _didn't send my possum uncles to spy on me!" screamed Peaches as she held up Crash and Eddie by their tails.

"What?" asked Manny trying to sound as innocent as possible.

"What?!" asked Ellie with anger starting to build up in her voice.

"I'm sure it was just a coincidence. Possums are nocturnal." said Manny trying to cover it up.

"Nice try. She caught us." sighed Crash. Peaches then dropped the possums.

"Peaches, let me explain." said Manny.

"Explain what?" snapped Peaches. "Explain that my own father doesn't trust me enough to let me hang out with my friends unsupervised? Yeah you made that pretty clear!"

"Okay bedtime!" Diego suddenly said to the cubs ushering them out. "Let's go!"

"Actually Diego they still got an hour-" Shira stopped when Diego cleared his throat and pointed to Manny and Peaches for an obvious reason.

"You know what, Daddy's right. Bedtime!"

The cubs at first complained but they agreed once Diego said it means more bedtime stories.

"I know what you're thinking." said Manny to Peaches.

"That after spending all my life being a daddy's girl the least you could do is show me some trust instead of sending someone to watch me?" scoffed Peaches.

"Peaches, honey," said Manny.

"I'm going to my tree." said Peaches. "Or do I need I babysitter for that too?" The teenager then walked away with her head down. As Manny watched with guilt painted on his face, Ellie glared at him with a furious one.

"Okay," started Manny. "I know you're beyond angry."

"I'm a lot of things at you and angry is one of them." scoffed Ellie. "You lied to me, you broke your word to Peaches, and you used my naïve brothers to help you. 'They're probably pulling pranks on some poor sap'". Ellie imitated what Manny said before when questioned about his brothers-in-law's whereabouts. "If only I knew that the 'poor sap' was our daughter!"

"It's not that-"said Manny until he was caught off by Ellie.

"When I saw you giving Peaches permission to go with her friends, I thought that you trusted her 100 percent and I find you spying on her!"

"Technically, I wasn't the one spying on her." Manny quickly added in with a nervous chuckle.

"Whatever. You know what I mean."

"Look, it's not that I don't trust Peaches. I just don't want her getting hurt!"

"Oh this again?" asked Ellie now annoyed. She honestly thought that Manny had already dropped the whole over protective thing after their adventure all those months ago. "Manny it's been six months. I think we can all agree that this island is a safe place to live in."

"I know, but as a guy who lost a kid before, I wouldn't want a repeat of it. I know that Peaches is a smart girl with a good friend like Louis and, uh..." Manny couldn't think of a word for the other teenaged mammoths. "Decent friends like the other mammoths, but I just can't help but worry about her. I guess you can be to careful sometimes."

"Well I suppose I can't blame you for caring about Peaches no matter how overboard you go with it sometimes, but eventually kids are going to start taking care of themselves and not always need someone spying on them for the rest of their lives. No offense."

"None taken, you're right." said Manny. "I'm very sorry for going back on my word to you two. I'm going to talk to her right now."

"You do that." said Ellie. "But I'm never going to let you hear the end of this." (Nah she will. Ellie's too nice and sweet to do that)

"You have every right." replied Manny as he turned to talk to his daughter.

…

Manny was walking back to the rest of the herd looking very down.

"So how did it go?" asked Diego.

"Peaches won't even talk to me." sighed Manny. "I've been apologizing and explaining everything to her for ten minutes but she just gave me the silent treatment and threw a stick at me."

"I'm sure it's just the anger talking." said Ellie trying to reassure him.

"Yeah but I can't help but feel this is mostly my fault."

"Mostly?"

"Okay all my fault. From the way Peaches is taking this, she'll never forget about it."

"I'll go talk to her." Ellie then walked to Peaches.

Sid and Granny walked back home.

"Hey guys." said Sid. "How was your night? Ours was good. You'll never believe what Granny did for-"

Sid stopped when he say a depressed Manny.

"Gee Manny are you okay buddy?

Manny just sighed.

"Daddy, daughter trouble." Shira explained to Sid.

"Oh." said Sid. "What happened?"

Manny then told how he sent Crash and Eddie to spy on Peaches and her finding out and not wanting to talk to him.

"Well no offense Manny but that's so like you." said Sid, oblivious to the fact that his remark only upset his friend even more.

"Sid, stop talking" said Diego through his teeth.

"I mean you've always had some trust issues."

"Shut up sloth."

"You have always been so freaked out about trusting the wrong person. But I'll help you! I can set up some trust excersizes that we could all do since we're all a family and families especially need trust."

"Put a sock in it Sid, that's all I'm asking you to do!" snapped Diego as he whacked the talkative sloth in the head with his paw.

"Meanwhile," Sid unsurprisingly continued, "Diego we'll work on your anger issues in your free time."

Diego whacked Sid in the head again only to have Sid slap the saber in the face. The pattern continued and continued until Granny butted in.

"Sidney, stop beating up that lady! Roughhousing with a woman. And you wonder why you're single!" after chewing out Sid, Granny batted him in the head with her walking stick a few times. Sid was still surprised that his grandmother thought that Diego was a female.

"But Granny!" whined Sid.

"Apologize to this lovley female this instant!" Granny commanded her grandson.

"Fine Granny." sighed Sid. "I'm sorry for hitting you Diego even though you're CLEARLY A MALE!" Sid said this last part out loud for Granny to hear.

"I know that! Don't talk to me like I don't know!" snapped Granny. She then walked up to Shira and pinched her cheek. "You sure are a nice catch Diego!" Granny then walked up to Diego and patted his head. "You're one lucky young lady Shira!" Sid sighed and rolled his eyes, not wanting to explain anything to Granny any further.

"I don't know what to say to Peaches without getting her even more mad at me." said Manny. "And when I try to explain it to her, she just ignores me even more."

"Well if it makes you feel any better, she won't talk to me either." said Ellie.

"Why would she do that?" asked Manny, confused. "You had nothing to do with it."

"I honestly don't know. Some teenaged phase."

"Well considering that we were the ones spying on Peaches, she obviously won't talk to us." said Eddie.

"Dude, she'd fling us." said Crash.

"Diego and I can talk to her." Offered Shira.

"You guys would do that?" asked Manny in gratitude.

"Sure buddy." said Diego. "That's what family is for."

"Thanks guys." replied Manny. "I really appreciate it."

…

Peaches was hanging in her tree, just thinking about her night gone wrong. She didn't want to talk to her father, she was to depressed to talk to her mother and she was definitely not in the mood to talk with her uncles who ruined her night.

"Hey Peach." Peaches was startled as she heard a deep voice and fell out of her tree to see her saber aunt and uncle.

"Oh, hey Uncle Diego. Aunt Shira." Peaches went from disappointed to embarassed.

"Sorry," apologized Diego. "Didn't mean to scare you there."

"It's okay." said Peaches.

"We heard about what happened with you and your dad." said Shira. "And let me the first to say that I know what you're going through."

"Really?" asked Peaches now curious.

"Oh yeah. My dad was always protective of me. Everytime I would go somewhere without him, he would always spy on me. In fact, I lost count of all the times I caught him. He wasn't the sneakiest saber in our pack." As Shira concluded with her story, Peaches chuckled a bit. Shira added in that little fact about her father to cheer her niece up.

"Listen Peach," said Diego. "Your Dad explained everything to us. I'll be the first to say that what he did is just way over protective even for him, but it's not that he doesn't trust you."

"Really? So he just sent Uncle Crash and Uncle Eddie to spy on me for the heck of it?" asked Peaches sarcastically.

"Peaches, your dad trusts you a hundred percent." Diego continued. "The only reason he sent Crash and Eddie to spy on you is because he's worried about you getting hurt."

"Why should he worry?" questioned Peaches getting a little aggravated. "I'm not a baby anymore and he should know that!"

"Listen, I've known your dad for a long time and he's gone through some trauma in his life before joining the herd and he just doesn't want the same thing happening to you."

Peaches looked deep in thought for a few minutes and then spoke up."Well maybe I was too harsh on Dad about the whole thing." she admitted. "And he does just want me to be safe." the mammoth then got up and walked away.

"Where are you going?" asked Shira.

"I'm going to go apologize to Dad for yelling at him." answered Peaches with her anger leaving her.

"Well done 'Uncle Diego'." praised Shira her mate.

"I guess being a softie does pay off." said Diego.

…

"Hey Dad." Peaches greeted her father.

Manny turned around to see his daughter with a small smile on her face.

"Hi Peach. You're not angry with me anymore?" he asked surprisingly but secretly relieved.

"Dad, I'm sorry." apologized Peaches to her father.

"_You're _sorry?" asked Manny this time surprised for real. If anyone should be apologizing it should be him. "For what?"

"For yelling at you. You just wanted me to stay safe and I can't really blame you for that."

"Hey you're talking to the mammoth who completley broke his word to his daughter. I deserve it."

"Good point."

"I'm sorry about sending your uncles to spy on you. Maybe Sid's right. I do have trust issues."

"I told you Manny!" called out Sid. "Now leave the trust therapies to me and I'll-"

"Shut up you chatterbox, you hurt the mammoth enough already!" growled Granny to Sid who hit him with her cane several times.

"It's okay." replied Peaches. "At least thats a sign of a dad who cares."

"You may be growing up, but you'll always be my little girl." sighed Manny. The fact that Peaches was maturing every day was unbealivable to him.

"So we're good?" asked Manny.

"What do you think?" chuckled Peaches as she and Manny wrapped their trunks together.

"One question though." said Manny. "Why did you ignore your mother? She didn't even know anything until you came home."

"I was depressed." answered Peaches. "I'm going to go apologize to Mom for that."

"Apology accepted sweetheart." said Ellie as she walked out of some bushes.

"Ellie, you were spying on us?" asked Manny. "After chewing me out for doing it?"

"No, I just have perfect timing." said Ellie truthfully. "Now come on, family hug!"

Ellie then joined her husband and daughter in their hug. They soon saw Sid, Granny, Crash, Eddie, Diego, Shira and Louis joining them.

"I'm part of the family, I deserve to be in a family hug!" proclaimed Sid.

"I love everyone!" sniffled Crash.

"Me too bro!" replied Eddie.

"Family man coming through!" asserted Diego.

"Don't forget about me!" said Shira.

"Hey, make room for Granny!" commanded Granny.

As the herd embraced each other, Louis stood in front of them with a smile on his face.

"Come on Louis, don't be shy." said Peaches.

"Y-you want me to be in your f-family h-hug?" stuttered a flattered Louis.

"Well of course. After all you are part of the family." acknowledged Manny.

Louis walked up to the group of hugging animals and hugged Peaches by the trunk.

"Ah-choo!" the herd heard a puny little sneeze coming from a shrub. Diego and Shira immediatley knew where they have heard it before. The saber couple walked up to the source of the sneezing and quickly swept away the shrub to uncover three certain, michovous cubs who were supposed to be sleeping.

"Dang it! Our cover's been blown!" pouted Cash.

"Isn't it past your bedtime?" Shira questioned the cubs.

"We couldn't sleep." implyed Flora.

"So we decided to spy on you guys to see what all the fuss was about." added in Bobby.

"Well Manny you sure made spying the latest trend." joked Diego as he rubbed Cash's head.

"Why did you forget about us in the group hug?" questioned Flora trying to make the rest of the herd feel guilty. "We're part of this family too!"

"Oh it wouldn't be a family hug without you cuties, come on in!" said Peaches as the cubs raced to their parents and started rubbing their heads against their front paws purring. In return, Diego and Shira kissed(or licked) their heads.

All the members of the herd were now cuddled near each other. No matter how weird they looked or acted, they are all a family. A big, happy, real family.


	6. Author's Note

**Author's Note:**

**So I'm glad you all enjoyed "An Ice Age Halloween". So people, two things. One, I have decided to do a little prequal to it where Diego and Shira find out that they're going to be parents. In it, the herd goes through some lessons, a whole new adventure and a certain, vengeful ape returns(can you guess who it is?) ;). And B, I still don't know whether to write a Scrat chapter or not so I decided to let you guys decide! I have set up a poll on my profile for you guys to vote. It is a yes or no question and you can only pick one! Whichever one gets the most votes I am going along with. The poll is open starting... NOW!**

**Keep looking out. I have school so I'll have to squeeze as many fanfics as I can whenever I have the time.**

**Peace,**

**laughs2luv **


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